Bidets are widely known in countries foreign to the United States, and are recognized and used by an increasing number of persons in the United States. Still, bathrooms and rest rooms in the United States are not generally equipped with this function. Instead, they are provided with a conventional sit-down commode not equipped as a bidet, and there is no space left in the room for a separate bidet. It is an object of this invention to provide an attachment for a conventional commode that does not require the dedication of the commode to the bidet function, and which when installed is out-of-the-way and unobtrusive.
Attachments for this purpose have previously been proposed. The most pertinent provides a spray arm which can swing from a stored, out-of-the-way location to an active location centrally in the cavity of the commode. These have not enjoyed any substantial acceptance known to the instant inventor, and the recognized advantages of the use of a bidet have therefore not heretofore been available except from plumbing installations dedicated to that function.
It is postulated that the known devices have been unable to provide these advantages for several reasons. First, plumbing and sanitary codes have severe restrictions which are most difficult to meet in the limited space where the bidet parts must be placed. Second, the spray arms were in the commode at all times, and often the owner would prefer not to have it so. Third, if the spray arm were removable, the risk would arise of an improperly directed stream of water which could flood or spatter the room. As a consequence of these and other problems, the attached bidet has failed of acceptance.
It is another object of this invention to overcome the above disadvantages by providing code-acceptability, especially as to siphon-breaking capacity, and to enable the spray arm to be removed and stored separately, while safetying the system against inadvertent water flow unless the spray arm is properly installed.